Quick Commentary

So, once again, I’ll throw the focus of this blog to the side. I want to post a quick note from a helpful individual:

1. Keep your head up
2. Go to networking events and shake a lot of hands and get a lot of business cards and use the approach of “what can i do to help you?” and not the “i need a job” approach.
3. be willing to take less pay and longer hours (this will change as the market turns around)
4. dont be so focused on landing your dream job
5. dont be afraid to use recruiters. use as many as you can.
6. Keep your head up

Hope this helps!

-Mike

I currently work inbound telephone sales for a distributor of Pimsleur language courses. There isn’t much to be done to be productive between calls; no real administrative or otherwise “side work,” as is the territory of call center work.

My goal is to be an embedded systems engineer. The current job market has made this somewhat difficult, so I’ve been soliciting advice from others, via LinkedIn, who are more successful and have advice to offer. I’ve found most are helpful in offering advice. Mike’s advice is my favorite.

I am grateful for any response and advice. Most of the advice are alike. Most recommend networking. I take all advice given to heart, if anything, in respect for the time and consideration the responder has given me. Mike’s advice goes a bit further.

Item number 1 and item number 6 have been crucial. With slim pickins in an employer’s market, it’s easy for one to devalue one’s own skills. It’s easy to believe that my skills and knowledge of electronics (though unseasoned and immature) are both ubiquitous and useless.

It’s keeping my head up that keeps me focused on learning. In a full workweek and other obligations of modern life, I learn to appreciate my successes in spending time on a piece of code I don’t understand, or trying to analyze a circuit that seems too complex.

It’s keeping my head up that keeps me aware that there’s most likely bodies still under rubble in Haiti and that 1/3rd of the world population doesn’t have access to clean water. I keep my head up in gratitude that I have the opportunity to worry about the developments in mobile devices and mcu architecture than where my next meal is coming from.